Quick question:
Does anyone here happen to have a good photo or illustration of the timer dial for an early Maytag A806 washer *WITHOUT* the Permanent Press cycle?

I've done a fair amount of searching, but the best I've found is the 1966 brochure illustration below. It's an OK picture, but not quite clear enough to read.

I'm considering using an early A806 2-3182 (2-3182-1) timer in a FrankenMaytag to add the 806's Pre-Wash and Soak cycles... but the two-year-only dial itself is quite elusive. I'm also considering reproducing and transferring the early non-PP graphics to a later spun-aluminum dial, a combo Maytag never made, but would need a good visual reference to do so.

I own 4 806 washers including an early version of your inquiry and here's why I recommend NOT using it:

4 water level selections vs 3. Obvious, and it may at first seem of insignificance, but that extra water level allows one to make finer adjustments to the other 3 levels.

Flexibility in wash/spin speeds selections. These early models carried over the same restricted options from the previous generation(s) leaving one with only 2 choices: Regular Wash/Reuglar Spin speed and Gentle Wash/Gentle Spin speeds. One cannot mix it up and select Gentle Wash/Reuglar Spin that's available on later models and a selection I happen to use often. Never once used the Gentle Spin speed selection as my wardrobe doesn't include that kind of nonsense.

These earlier timers use a 45 second advancement mechanism therefore the spray rinse during the first spin cycle is only 45 seconds vs 1 full minute on later models.

I am with Dan on the high speed spin on every cycle.....and the option to choose it...

any machine can have a Pre-wash, basically a Rinse/Spin...

an Automatic Soak is only seems beneficial if the machine can continue on into the regular cycle.....other wise, set for wash, let agitate, and then pause the machine....if not an AutoSoak, you have to return to the machine anyway...

what you might consider is a timer setup from a unit with a SudsReturn feature.....the timer motor does not run during the water return....basically a continuous wash for how ever long you wish...a double dose of detergent and gentle speed agitation can work wonders....

I think when the Washpower Automatics first came out, they pimped up the dials on the 806 and 606 with a layer of clear acrylic and a chrome ring to line up with the knob. I remember a plain plastic knob, like the one on the left, on the early 206 they had in the basement of a house I rented.

All very helpful, but perhaps I should have given some more background for my inquiry!

The concept in my head would be to swap the timer (and ONLY the timer) in my A408, to gain the A806's automatic pre-wash and pre-soak functionality (which we would like), at the expense of losing the timed and non-timed soaks of the A408 (which we don't use). It wouldn't be an A806 in any other way, and the machine would retain the A408's front panel and all of its buttons. Not necessarily an upgrade, per-se, just a different feature set. Because of this, many aspects of the early vs late A806 aren't particularly of concern.

And yes, we technically can trigger as many extra rinses and soaks as we like with the existing A408 timer, and that's what we are doing now. But I'd rather just start the laundry, not have to manually intervene 4-6 times per load to get the equivalent cycle. :)

So the conversion would go something like this:

Water level selection would stay 4-levels (A408) with no changes needed.

The motor speed inputs/outputs of the A806 timer would simply be hardwired to the Regular/Regular mode and only the Regular speed output would be connected to the motor. I would lose the single-speed A408's intermittent Delicate and Permanent Press modes, as the simpler control logic of the two-speed A806 timer doesn't replicate this pulsed functionality. There is a chance it could be added back later, by modifying the cam wheel in the A806 timer on the slow-speed motor control track, but I wouldn't do that right away.

The tub light and fluorescent lamp circuits from the timer would not be connected.

For the temp selector, the idea would be the same to use the A408's existing paired selector buttons (Hot/Warm, Hot/Cold, Warm/Cold, Cold/Cold) in place of the A806's discrete Cold/Warm/Hot wash and Cold/Warm rinse buttons. The circuits are a bit different, so I would have to trace out the diagrams to see how that should be wired.

Hopefully that makes a bit more sense. I have a failing timer on the A408, and while I plan to attempt a rebuild, this seems like a good opportunity for an experiment. Eventually the whole machine will be replaced with an A806, but for the moment, I have to work with what I have.

The difference, subtle but there, is in the font and general text alignment. Most obvious is the number "10" - peteski50's image clearly shows a serif font used for the number 1, whereas Kenmore71's image clearly shows a sans-serif 1. bajaespuma's two posts show different dials from other models, but include some of both styles. The sizing and spacing of other elements also changed slightly, for example the word "DELICATES".

This doesn't really mean much, just that there were at least two different versions of this very short-lived timer dial.

You're right - this button did provide a regular wash with a slow spin. There was no gradual cool down provided like the later models with the PP cycle.

If it's of any interest, there was a brief period of time before the PP cycle was introduced that the 406, 606, and 806 had 4 water levels instead of the prior three. Small now had 9 gallon fill, the old small became medium with 13(?) gallon fill. Normal and large stayed the same.

Thank you. I think as dryers became more a part of standard household laundry equipment and water came to be seen as a finite resource, the cooldown came to be seen as unnecessary, except if, as Maytag suggested, you used it to enhance rinsing. I used to wash my permanent press dress shirts in the Frigidaire washers that provided the 1140 rpm spin and during cold weather I dried them in a Frigidaire Filtrator Dryer and had superb results.